Female artist drawing male model

When I attended the life class run by an artist friend of mine in a local art department, a number of those attending were students in the college. One evening, when the model failed to turn up, one of the young male students present was asked to be our model. He agreed to pose in his shorts and he made a really good model. As one of the women attending the class was seated just behind him I decided to draw the whole life class scene which you can see below. There was plenty of background junk to draw in the studio, and I love drawing junk.

female student drawing male model – pastel

After many years of drawing and painting, from time to time I like to try something different. On one occasion I decided to try drawing the topless portrait of a female model using beer-mat board. It’s quite a firm support and quite rough but it holds pastel very well. Of course, detailed draughtsmanship is not possible; it has to be a collection of suggestions. Anyway, here is the result as the model was almost dozing off to sleep:

sleepy nude on beermat board

On one occasion, a female model took up our challenge of doing a nude pose standing up for one hour. She held the pose well but in just an hour I didn’t have time to draw her feet. We gave her a board to lean against and which was narrow enough to grasp the edges with her hands thus ensuring that she didn’t move. I decided to use a toned grey board and pencil. This produces a mellow effect but can be quite effective for figure drawing.